Retainer tracker for recruitment firms and executive search.
Retained executive search works differently from contingency: the client pays a retainer — typically one-third of estimated fee upfront, often $20,000–$50,000 — and the recruiter bills against it as the search progresses. The problem is that clients who’ve paid a large advance want to see what they’re getting for that money between the kickoff call and the shortlist presentation. For two to four weeks, the search is invisible to them: sourcing is happening, outreach is going out, candidates are being screened — but the client sees none of it. HourTab makes that work visible with a live hours URL the client can bookmark and check weekly.
Free forever for your first retainer · no credit card.
Why retained search tracking breaks down
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The “black box” problem erodes client confidence between milestones.
Retained search is notoriously opaque between formal milestones. A client who paid a $25,000 advance at kickoff and hears nothing for two weeks — even when active sourcing is happening — starts to question whether the search is actually underway. The anxiety compounds: by week three, they’re emailing the search lead for updates. By week four, they’re questioning whether they made the right choice of firm. An hours log that shows 30+ hours of sourcing, market mapping, and screening calls across those two weeks answers that anxiety before it becomes a call. The client sees that the work is happening — even before there’s a shortlist to show.
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Research hours are the only evidence of progress before deliverables appear.
A recruiter who spent 30 hours building a candidate universe — researching target companies, identifying passive candidates, crafting outreach messages, following up on non-responses, and conducting preliminary screens — hasn’t yet produced a visible deliverable. The shortlist presentation is still weeks away. In the absence of deliverables, hours are the only evidence of progress, and clients need to see them. A weekly-updated work log (sourcing: 12h, outreach: 8h, screening calls: 10h) tells a story of an active search before the shortlist makes that story tangible.
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Multi-role billing creates accountability questions without a transparent log.
In a retained search engagement, the lead consultant, a researcher, and a coordinator all bill hours against the same retainer. Without transparency, clients sometimes wonder whether the junior hours are really being supervised by the senior consultant they bought. A log showing “Lead consultant — client intake review and position brief, 3h”; “Researcher — market mapping and target list, 8h”; “Lead consultant — screening calls, 4h” makes the team’s structure and supervision visible. Clients see they’re paying for a team effort guided by someone senior, not just junior research hours.
How it works for recruitment firms
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1
Set up the retainer. Enter the client company, role being searched, retainer amount (in hours or dollar-equivalent hours), and start date. For a retained search billed at $250/hr with a $25,000 advance, that’s 100 hours to work with. You can also track purely by hours if your engagement is structured that way — many boutique search firms bill per-hour against a retainer rather than as a percentage of fee.
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2
Import your time-tracking CSV weekly. Log your search activity in Toggl, Harvest, or whatever tool your team uses, then import the CSV into HourTab at the end of each week. Entries show: sourcing, candidate outreach, screening calls, market mapping, client prep, and reference checks — with hours and descriptions. The client’s live URL updates every time you import, so they see progress as it accumulates, not just at milestone presentations.
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Share the URL at kickoff. Drop the unique public link into the kickoff email or engagement confirmation. The client bookmarks it and checks weekly progress. They feel informed even when no milestone has been reached yet — which is the period of maximum anxiety in retained search. A client who can see 40 hours of active work in week two is a calm client who trusts the process.
A weekly-updated hours URL is the simplest proof of activity between milestones — and the most effective way to prevent the “what are you doing for my money?” call.
“Clients in retained search often feel they’re paying for invisible work between kickoff and shortlist. Transparency about search activity reduces pressure and builds confidence in the process.”
— Executive search best practices guide
A weekly-updated hours URL is the simplest proof of activity between milestones.
Frequently asked questions
How do recruitment firms typically track retained search hours?
Most recruitment and executive search firms track time in Toggl, Harvest, or their ATS time-logging features. Hours are logged internally against each search engagement, but clients have no visibility between milestone updates. HourTab adds a live public URL so clients can see the weekly hours log — sourcing, screening, outreach, mapping — without waiting for a status call.
Should I share individual candidate names or keep entries generic?
That depends on your firm’s practice and the client relationship. Many retained search firms keep entry descriptions at the activity level — “Candidate sourcing — 12 LinkedIn outreach messages, 2h” or “Phone screen — 3 candidates, 1.5h” — without naming specific candidates until the formal shortlist is presented. This protects candidate privacy during active outreach while still demonstrating progress through logged hours.
Can HourTab track a dollar retainer balance instead of hours?
HourTab tracks hours natively, which is the most transparent unit for showing search activity. For dollar-based retained search retainers (e.g. one-third of estimated fee upfront), you can convert to hours at your effective billing rate and track hours against that equivalent. The client sees hours consumed, which communicates effort more clearly than dollars burned — and hours are the evidence of active search work between milestones.
How do I handle the second and third-tranche billing in a retained search?
Retained search typically bills in three tranches: upfront, at shortlist, and at placement. HourTab is most useful for the period between tranches — the weeks of active sourcing and screening where no visible deliverable has been produced yet. You can reset the retainer tracker at each tranche to show hours consumed in that billing phase, giving clients a clear picture of what each tranche covered.